A while ago when people were discussing issues of children's privacy in mummyblogs I had a little panic and deleted our surname from my blogs. I still haven't figured out whether I think it was a necessary step, but I just did it while I was thinking about the issue. Then I did a Google search for Euey's name and it came up with one thing relating to him, a post by my best friend about the week she spent with us directly after our second was born. It was one of several lovely posts she wrote about that time, all of which I loved reading, but she used his full name. Being such close friends it was easy to ask her to edit the post to remove the surname. Unfortunately neither of us knew that Google would still bring up the post. She deleted her whole blog. It was one she had discontinued but it still had lots of good memories and I was sad she did that, it was unnecessary and caused by me. Luckily she saved some of the posts, including the one I stupidly worried about - with the changed name! Here it is:
THE TODDLER FORMERLY KNOWN AS BEAN
my week at my best friends household has left me with many fond memories. after just 6 days with the family, i really felt like i had the opportunity to get to know their eldest son (the toddler formerly known as bean). given that he's the child of a woman i've known since the womb, this was quite important to me. at only 19 months old, i don't know if he'll remember me... but i will certainly remember his quirkish toddler ways.
and so, a story... an effort to get the toddler formerly known as bean to sleep in the car... an endeavor which, while entertaining, proved futile...
failed attempt 1: i tried a little jedi mind trick (picture crocodile dundee taming the bovine, or "the cougar" with the "wild dog"). this resulted not in the toddler formally known as bean falling asleep, or becoming transfixed in a meditative state, or anything that could be described as calm, or even close to. rather, he smiled at me (rather cheekily), reached out and grabbed my hand, and, with jaws opening wider by the second, attempted to pull it into his mouth. hmmmm.
failed attempt 2: will says "shhh. go to sleep". good one. yup. you'd think this would work. the response to this was the toddler formerly known as bean parrotting his father. "shh. shh. shh". no sleep.
failed attempt 3: we both ignore him. the child doesn't seem to mind. not in the slightest. rather, he just starts asking for the dog. "bubble?" (oh yes, i got that question ALOT during those 6 days!!)
by this time we're pulling up to the house, and i'm glad putting the boy to sleep is not my job! i'll stick to the playground part of the job description. much more fun, as you can see...
1 comment:
the Google cache is a strange thing, yes. apparently everything we say may show up in random searches future employers may do on us fifteen years hence. yippee.
which was, i suppose, the reason behind the furor of the blog i linked to when i raised that question about using our kids' names. not so much having their identities stolen, as having them traceable. last night, i changed a sentence in my own most recent post b/c people in my hometown read my blog, and Dave pointed out that if i'm looking for work, now or in the future, i may want to sound less cranky about it. lol. point taken.
but i'm still using O's name. and i love Cath's post and am glad you still have it to show the boy someday. :)
it's hard trying to figure out how big a footprint to leave out here in the blogosphere, isn't it?
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